I'm a bit behind with this post but I was in the crew room at Odiham when the first Chinook desynchronised. A shocking bang! A few days later my flight commander brought in the offending bearing that had been fitted the wrong way round allowing the sync shaft to part company with the gearbox. The only indication as to which way to assemble it was a small faint arrow less than 1cm in length etched lightly onto the bearing. It seemed to me that the designer had placed a great deal of faith in his fellow human beings...he'd clearly never heard of Murphy's Law! It set me thinking about what other possible banana skins were hidden in the mighty Wokka.
Notwithstanding some of the technical problems that the aircraft has had, they are greatly outweighed by the sheer strength and power of the machine that have, on many many occasions saved the crew and pax from inept handling by us stick monkeys!